The holidays are on their way, it’s cold outside and family is coming to visit. This is honestly my favorite time of year. I love the feel outside in the morning, the crunchy leaves, the excuse to make yourself feel as cozy as humanly possible. IT’S JUST THE BEST!

This is my favorite breakfast for the holidays because literally everyone can eat off of it in the mornings and if you make it the night before, all you have to do is pop it in the oven the next day! It also lasts around a week in the fridge so breakfast is taken care of all week long.

This is a relatively healthy recipe too which is great. The only sugar in this is brown sugar (which is way better than white bleached sugar), maple syrup (which is packed with antioxidants and tons of natural benefits), and the organic natural sugar found in coconut and fruit.

*The following ingredients are to your taste. If you don’t like any of these (or are allergic) you can omit them from the recipe. Likewise, if you love a certain ingredient more than the others you can add much more of that ingredient. I used a small glass bowl that measures to about 1/4 of a cup for each ingredient, however feel free to put as much or as little of each “topping” ingredient as you would like.

pumpkin seeds

golden raisins

dried cranberries

dried coconut

raisins

pecans (or any nut of your choice)

dried coconut flakes (unsweetened)

Let’s get baking 🙂

Put pealed apples and pear in a bowl and squeeze half a lemon over the mixture. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of these and let them marinate for ten minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and grease a pan for baking (I like using butter but if you’d like to make this vegan you can use vegan butter or oil).

Combine all dry ingredients and incorporate together (but not the “toppings” portion of ingredients).

In a separate bowl mix together all wet ingredients.

Slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the oat mixture.

Fold in the marinated apple and pear mixture, as well as any toppings you’d like in your oatmeal.

This dish is amazing hot or cold and everyone in my family likes eating it in different ways. I like it hot and topped with whatever fresh fruit we have in the house, while my dad likes it cold and served with powdered sugar on top.

I just love how once you take the time to make it, you can eat off of it for the next few days. It normally doesn’t last longer than that in our house because we eat it for breakfast and add ice cream to it for dessert, but if you just have it for breakfast it should last for a good few breakfasts.

This stays fresh in the refrigerator for a while, but I wouldn’t keep it for longer than a week.